Unions should join talks on a new pay agreement, Minister for Social Protection Dara Calleary has said, after Siptu began preparations for industrial action.
Calleary said Minister for Public Expenditure Jack Chambers was available for talks with the unions and urged them to engage with Chambers and his officials.
After initial contacts, the unions have told their members that the basis for negotiations with the Department of Public Expenditure does not exist and have begun the process of preparing to lodge pay claims that could lead to widespread industrial action. The previous deal lapsed last week.
Calleary stressed that the Government would not conclude a deal “at any cost”, however.
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“The Government are more than willing and able to do a deal,” Calleary said in Ballina on Monday morning. “We made it clear, not at any cost. We want to have a negotiation, and Minister Chambers has made it very clear. He’s available for negotiation.”
Asked whether he favoured a broader agreement covering issues in addition to pay, as some unions have suggested, Calleary was cautious, suggesting Chambers would “lead out” on it.
“I think stability is important, industrial stability is important, and as a Government, we have delivered on pay agreements in the past. We want to continue to do that. We very much understand the pressures that workers are under at the moment, the cost-of-living issues, and we want to ensure we protect them against that. But we can’t do that at any cost,” he said.
Last week, the public services committee of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions (Ictu) said individual trade unions would start consulting their memberships, beginning a process that could see ballots for industrial action within weeks.
Siptu, the country’s largest union, said ballots of its members across the health service, local authorities and education would begin over the coming weeks.
Calleary was speaking as he welcomed EU social protection and employment ministers to Ballina, Co Mayo, for the first Council of Ministers meeting of Ireland’s EU presidency.
The meeting, which is taking place at St Mary’s secondary school in Calleary’s hometown, comes as Ireland’s EU presidency gets under way following last week’s opening ceremonies.
Calleary said the “informal” meeting – which means no formal conclusions will be reached – was focused on three issues: poverty, unemployment and the disability employment gap.
“The European Union has just published its first antipoverty strategy. One of the recommendations in it is that each country should have an antipoverty surgery. We’ve had ours in place since 1997,” he said.
